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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

It's Wednesday! Time for another round of Treasury Challenge. Anyone can play! Challenges last 24 hrs. This week's theme is 'French Lavender'. Remember, be creative with the theme it can mean anything to you!

Check back Friday to vote. The winner will be featured on The Undiscovered blog on Monday!

The rest of the rules are as follows:

1) One item per shop2) Spread the love...please don't include an item from your own shop3) Include at least 8 undiscovered shops (20 sales or less)4) Include at least 6 members of of Team Undiscovered (we use the tag teamundiscovered). Team members can count as undiscovered shops if they have 20 sales or less.-The rest of the items are up to you today!5) Include the tags: teamundiscovered, undiscovered6) Include 'Team Undiscovered Challenge' somewhere in your treasury title7) Write in your treasury description that you're participating in the Wednesday Team Undiscovered Treasury Challenge & include a link to our blog:http://theundiscoveredofetsy.blogspot.com/8) Post your treasury's URL here to enter your treasury in the challenge!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Last weeks' treasuries were a rainbow delight for the eyes! We had such a fabulous turnout! Team, you rock! You voted, and picked Wanna HM's treasury 'A Journey to the Rainbow'.

I asked Oana, of Wanna HM to tell me a bit about herself and her Etsy shop.

'[First], I want to thank the entire Undiscovered Team members and [everyone] who supported me and my treasury!'

'I’m a proud mother of a sweet and smart 4 yrs old boy, a wife and much loved daughter of my mom; a graduate of Environmental economy working now as a freelancer. I have a lot of hope, trust and love in my soul!'

For as long as she can remember, Oana has been in love with handmade. 'Around the age of 4 or 5, I first learned to make a crochet chain. My dear and beloved grandmother taught me to do it, and in a day she had everything around the house wrapped in crocheted chains. After [that], she taught me to sew. I remember I sewed a lot of bags that day. My first handmade inventions surprised my mom when [she came] home [to] find my grandmother cooking in the kitchen, her feet in beautiful handmade bags wrapped with cotton crocheted chains.'

'My next major steps in handmade followed with making friendship bracelets in high school (with an enormous selling success), then in university I started painting on stones. I decorated a hostel with my painted stones during a two week holiday. After graduation, I had less time for my passion, but at my last job I used a lot of my crafty abilities and my other big love, photography and photo editing, to make graduation diplomas, certificates, class albums, and motivational pins, to name a few. And finally, after our baby boy was born I fell in love with decoupage and home décor.'

'Since I was a child, I was imaginative and innovative...[W]hen I wanted to do something I always found a way to do it – even if it meant [teaching myself].I love all kind of quality art and love to do [many different types of] crafts and handmade projects...in a word, everything that involves the privilege to use my imagination and my hands.'

'My Etsy shop is actually the [result] of my dear friend Meds; she rekindled my passion for handmade things and encouraged me to open my shop. Wanna HM =Wanna Hand Made and has a double meaning for me because my name is Oana [which is pronounced] “wanna”!'

Oana uses only the highest quality supplies. 'Quality is very important to me. Even if I have to order some [supplies] from abroad, I [don't] make any compromises on this standard. Because of my love for the environment, which inspires [many] of us so much, I [try] as much as possible to use non-toxic, ecological, and natural supplies. Also, I intentionally avoid over [packaging] my products and I use recycled [packing materials].'

'I haven’t had the time to post all my items yet, but I promise that in my shop you will find only high quality items, made with lots of passion, love and attention! Please come by to see my work. And because my shop [is just getting started], I prepared a surprise gift for the first buyer!'

That's right folks! Oana is still waiting for her first sale, so make sure you check out her shop, Wanna HM, and show her and her beautiful items some love!

Want to be featured on The Undiscovered blog next week? Make sure you play with us! Anyone can play! This Wednesday's theme will be 'French lavender'. Be creative with this theme, it can mean ANYTHING to you! Check back on Wednesday for contest rules & to post your treasury URL. And please remember to wait till Wednesday to make your treasury so it'll count!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

It's Wednesday! Time for another round of Treasury Challenge. Anyone can play! Challenges last 24 hrs. This week's theme is 'Over the Rainbow'. Remember, be creative with the theme it can mean anything to you!

Check back Friday to vote. The winner will be featured on The Undiscovered blog on Monday!

The rest of the rules are as follows:

1) One item per shop2) Spread the love...please don't include an item from your own shop3) Include at least 8 undiscovered shops (20 sales or less)4) Include at least 6 members of of Team Undiscovered (we use the tag teamundiscovered). Team members can count as undiscovered shops if they have 20 sales or less.-The rest of the items are up to you today!5) Include the tags: teamundiscovered, undiscovered6) Include 'Team Undiscovered Challenge' somewhere in your treasury title7) Write in your treasury description that you're participating in the Wednesday Team Undiscovered Treasury Challenge & include a link to our blog:http://theundiscoveredofetsy.blogspot.com/8) Post your treasury's URL here to enter your treasury in the challenge!

Monday, March 21, 2011

It sure was another close race this week, neck in neck! It must be hard to choose between great treasuries! Team, you're wonderful! And it comes through in your treasuries. You voted, and this week you chose Ronnie LaForet of atelier laforet as your winner!

I asked Ronnie about herself and her Etsy shop.

'...I see life in terms of a little dot motif adding up to a larger picture...I came from a big family that didn’t value the arts, but it was my thing. My family was constantly moving so they just kept throwing all of it out. I made more. In 3rd grade I saw Oldenburg’s “Piece of Cake” and knew I was not alone. I tried to be conventional, but it just doesn’t fit [my personality].'

'Always being from somewhere else gave me the courage to reinvent myself and eventually I did find myself. [I am] a formidable artist with an open mind to new things. I like sharing my work and experience with others. I am that mother who drags her kids to the beach in the middle of the night to watch a comet because I believe experiences are important.'

'...I find my drawings with dots meditative. I think it is necessary for people to stop and make something repetitive to rest your mind. I wish more families made time to share the art of making things with each other.'

'I am currently working on a collection of paintings and starting a blog, “one dot...then another....” which I hope to feature the science behind my artistic endeavors.'

Check out more of Ronnie's original artwork at her Etsy shop atelierlaforet.

Want to be featured next week on our blog? Then take part in the Wednesday Treasury Challenge. This Wednesday's theme will be 'Over the Rainbow'. Rules will be posted Wednesday along with a place to post your links on the blog. Make sure you wait till Wednesday to make your treasury so It'll count!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Team, I can't stop saying it. You are simply amazing! Please take the time to give yourselves pats on the back. You make such beautiful treasuries and have a fantastic supportive spirit for your fellow teammates. It's often a tough vote, and this week's stunning treasuries are no exception!

Keep up the good work team! I would also like to wish Random Order's Dona a very happy birthday! Possibly, a bit belated because her treasury was for her birthday on Wednesday, but we wish you and your shop much success and many happy days!

Whose shop will be featured on Monday? It's time to vote! Thanks to everyone who took part. Voting will be open until Sunday.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Horray! It's Wednesday! Time for another round of Treasury Challenge. Anyone can play! Challenges last 24 hrs. This week's theme is 'home sweet home'. Remember, be creative with the theme it can mean anything to you!

Check back Friday to vote. The winner will be featured on The Undiscovered blog on Monday!

The rest of the rules are as follows:

1) One item per shop2) Spread the love...please don't include an item from your own shop3) Include at least 8 undiscovered shops (20 sales or less)4) Include at least 6 members of of Team Undiscovered (we use the tag teamundiscovered). Team members can count as undiscovered shops if they have 20 sales or less.-The rest of the items are up to you today!5) Include the tags: teamundiscovered, undiscovered6) Include 'Team Undiscovered Challenge' somewhere in your treasury title7) Write in your treasury description that you're participating in the Wednesday Team Undiscovered Treasury Challenge & include a link to our blog:http://theundiscoveredofetsy.blogspot.com/8) Post your treasury's URL here to enter your treasury in the challenge!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Hey team, you voted, and this week Caytee Belle' treasury California Dreamin' won! It was another close race, And I can see why. Team, you make beautiful treasuries! Everyone who played and supported the team should feel super proud of themselves!

I asked Carly, shop owner of Caytee Belle's Classics to tell me a bit about herself and her shop.

'...I've been crafting and making stuff as long as I can remember. Even as a little girl, I loved drawing, painting, and embroidery. I just love to make things. I am constantly looking at things and thinking, "I can make that!" I've never been too afraid to try anything, and when I can't figure out how to make something on my own, I'll take a class or check out books in the library to learn.'

'Through the birth of my 3 children, my love for sewing blossomed [while] making things for them. I started with classic, simple clothing and have gradually moved [on to] making stuffed toys and playthings. Which brings me to my current love; with all the technology and noise and general busyness of life, I love the sweet simplicity of a simple handmade teddy bear.'

'I own a small boutique-type consignment and gift shop, Caytee Belle's Closet, in Northeast Mississippi and I've been selling my bears there for a little over two years...My little girl's nickname is Caytee Belle, and my shop was named in her honor...My favorite materials are repurposed clothing and baby blankets, but I also really like working with corduroy and flannel- anything soft can make a great bear!'

'...The popularity of my bears as gift items [combined with] my joy in making them led me to the decision to take the plunge and open Caytee Belle's Classics on Etsy. Each bear is lovingly handmade by me, with a little help stuffing from my little girl. Her favorite ritual is to christen each bear with a big hug before carefully placing him in the box to travel to his new home. I'm new to Etsy, but am loving every minute of it! [In the future], I'd love for Caytee Belle's Classics to become so busy that all I have time for is creating things for others!'

Want to be featured next week on The Undiscovered blog? Make sure you play with us on Wednesday when in our treasury challenge theme will be 'home sweet home'. Only treasuries made on Wednesday will count so check back Wednesday for rules and to upload your collections.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Another week, another stunning selection of treasuries! Team, you are fabulous! Everyone who takes part, views, comments, & promotes is really helping fellow teammates out, but I have to say, there were 2 heavy hitters this week! A special congrats to Cayteebell & SunnyLeeStudio for having such successful treasuries this week!

Whose shop will be featured on Monday? It's time to vote! Thanks to everyone who took part. Voting will be open until Sunday.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

I believe that its important for your shops to have cohesive style throughout.

Same backgrounds with limited props.

I know we don't all have white walls in our houses and not all of us have that added luxury of natural daylight, but this doesn't need to hinder you in your pursuit to achieve the perfect photograph for your shop.

We are going to look and see how with just a few dollars and a little imagination, we can encourage more clicks on your products.

So before we start do you have the following in front of you, a cup of coffee and a notepad and pen.
You do ..... then lets begin.

The first three pictures you will see will show you I have no natural light in the room I take my photographs in.
What they will show you is what you are going to need to achieve better photographs

This is just good old fashioned brown wrapping paper taped to a wall. why brown? I will tell you in a moment.

So what you see here is a sheet of Bristol board.... nothing fancy just white Bristol board taped to the brown wrapping paper.

So the reason I use the brown wrapping. Its easier to edit a photo if I happen to catch some of the brown in the picture then editing the wall .... it also gives me a wider angle to work in., and the white board doesn't get dirty ripped yes but dirty no.

Lights ..... Walmart .... simple as that.

I sometimes keep the shades on I sometimes take them off. I have two sets which can be used either side of the object Im taking a photography of . This way Im not fighting to work in the day time only, I can take photographs any time I chose.

So now we have the basics of what we need to take a photograph.

Remember, anyone can grab a camera, point and shoot.

As long as the photograph is in focus, what you do next is what will make it stand out in a crowd.

Picnik is awesome if you have limited skills and no real money to spend on a editing program.

You can upload up to 5 photos at a time if you use it free or 100 photos if you pay $25 a year.

(Please note on the free program you are limited to what you can do on picnik but its enough to upgrade all your photographs. This tutorial was all done on the free program)

So here is my photo.

which I uploaded from my computer on to Picnik.

I chose to photograph a bowl as someone had expressed a concern about taking photos of larger objects.

The principle is going to be the same with a smaller object like a ring or earrings.

Note the circle in the left hand corner. this is showing you a portion of the brown wrapping paper.

Next you go to editing and look for auto fix in the left hand corner of your screen. Auto fix just makes life so much easier for you when it comes to editing later on.

Next re-size the photo.

You have two options Use percentages and Keep proportions click both and it will take the photo down to 100x100.

Your photo wont look any different but Picnik will be able to work with it easier and it wont slow the program down at all.

The next step is Exposure.

This is where it can look a bit scary ... you will need to click on advanced, and a graphic bar will appear.

This area is what I call POP.

We are now going to make your picture POP ... stand out ...

Sometimes when we take a photograph it can look flat and lifeless.

And without confusing you and giving you loads of technical terms ... what all this really means is its the difference between getting no views and getting a potential sale.

So who knows how to do this? Well you don't have to know, all you have to do is click the advanced button and move the bars a little to the right.

Drag the "Highlights" slider until the graph bars on the right side of the graph get close to the right edge of the graph.
Now drag the "Shadows" slider until the graph bars on the left get close to the left side.
And there you go you just popped your photo
Next if you feel it needs it you can play with the brightness toggle.

What you are doing here is removing the shades that your object has created when you took your photo.
You don't have to remove it all but you can take away the looming shadow.

Did the color go a bit off? Maybe, but don't worry that's easy fixed.

Go to color and first click on the picker. The picker helps you pick out the color you want to put right, in my case it was the bowl its self. I needed to remove the cream/yellow from it when I had played with the exposure.
I clicked on the picker then I clicked on the white background, then the bowl and it fixed it for me.
You can then play with the Saturation and temperature bars to finalize your color.

See how the bowl is back to being white and it still has that stand out quality.

Now we are going to crop the photograph.
Remember Etsy is a indie market, with a catalog feel to it.
When I look at a product, yes I want to know what I'm looking at but, I also want to be drawn to it in some sort of artistic way.
So click on crop and this is what you will see, a grid box .
Remember you need to keep in mind how you crop don't just slice and dice and think on poo I cut to much off.... Take your time and really look at the picture... your an artist, crop like one.

So here is the crop.

You can still tell its a bowl, the patten on the bowl is still very much visible, but its a bit more pleasing to the eye. Its crisp and clear.

The eggs just peeking through the top gives you an idea of what the bowl can be used for also.

Now lets save it.
When saving its important to remember that Etsy had size requirements.

They (Etsy) say that if you save your photos to 1000 pixels (height) that you wont get cropped in the gallery view, but what you do need to look at is weather your photo is landscape or portrait.
There is a sizing box to the left of the screen when you come to save.
I recommend (after much playing around and loading photos on to Etsy to see what size would be best)
that you save your photo to 1000 height if portrait or 1000 width if landscape, the other number will generate its self.
Picnik doesn't seem to work with pixels, and if it does it isn't specified.

Here is the photo loaded into Etsy.
this is what everyone is going to see when they find my product.
What photos you use next should match the artist view of the first but really it will not matter if its cropped slightly in the galley as your first picture will be so stunning no one will notice.

This photo is also Treasury worthy.
The background is plain it will match with most other photos you find on Etsy ...... and is more likely to be used.

I was looking at some shops the other day and I came across one shop that had totally revamped their photos.... and I sent her an email and just said how nice it was all looking, and here is what she said back.

Thanks so much, that means a lot. Especially from you, your stuff is great. I get featured in a couple treasuries a week now and it's a real honor. I love the Etsy community :)

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Welcome to our second special edition of the team treasury challenge. Challenges run 24 hrs every Wednesday. Since it is Khan Creations' second time winning the challenge we're rewarding her with something different.

The theme this week is up to you! The rest of the rules are as follows:

1) One item per shop2) Spread the love...please don't include an item from your own shop3) Include at least 8 undiscovered shops (20 sales or less)4) Include at least 6 members of of Team Undiscovered (we use the tag teamundiscovered). Team members can count as undiscovered shops if they have 20 sales or less.-The rest of the items are up to you today!5) Include the tags: teamundiscovered, undiscovered6) Include 'Team Undiscovered Challenge' somewhere in your treasury title7) Write in your treasury description that you're participating in the Wednesday Team Undiscovered Treasury Challenge & include a link to our blog:http://theundiscoveredofetsy.blogspot.com/8) Post your treasury's URL here to enter your treasury in the challenge!

Monday, March 7, 2011

It was a close race this week! Many votes, but there can only be one winner. And Aisha of Khan Creations won by a nose!

Since Aisha was already featured on The Undiscovered blog, we're rewarding her shop with something new.

This Wednesday, for the team treasury challenge, everyone must include Aisha's item, the Bright and Cheery Colorful Matinee Necklace, pictured below, as one of the items in your treasury. The theme this week is up to you! Rules will be posted Wednesday. Please wait till Wednesday to make your treasury because we use number of views to decide our four finalists.

Friday, March 4, 2011

We had some magically delicious entries this week with the theme 'Luck of the Irish'. It was a pleasure to peruse through those gorgeous greens, glittery golds, lucky charms. Give yourselves pats on the back! Now it's time to vote for your favourite.

Part of the fun is choosing a winner to be featured Monday on The Undiscovered blog. Thanks to everyone who took part. Voting will be open until Sunday.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

This week's theme is 'Luck of the Irish'. Be creative with the theme, it can mean ANYTHING to you! You don't have to be a team member to play, the more the merrier so tell your friends! Check back Friday to vote. The winner will be featured on The Undiscovered blog on Monday!

The rest of the rules are as follows:

1) One item per shop2) Spread the love...please don't include an item from your own shop3) Include at least 8 undiscovered shops (20 sales or less)4) Include at least 6 members of of Team Undiscovered (we use the tag teamundiscovered). Team members can count as undiscovered shops if they have 20 sales or less.-The rest of the items are up to you today!5) Include the tags: teamundiscovered, undiscovered6) Include 'Team Undiscovered Challenge' somewhere in your treasury title7) Write in your treasury description that you're participating in the Wednesday Team Undiscovered Treasury Challenge & include a link to our blog:http://theundiscoveredofetsy.blogspot.com/8) Post your treasury's URL here to enter your treasury in the challenge!

Welcome

Etsy is a big site, and when you first join it can be a very scary place as a seller.We are here to help you find you way around, and help you get discovered.We are all new to Etsy, but each of us has something to offer.

We are a Social Networking group and our top line is promotion and helping others be the best they can be